Does Modafinil Work as a Brain Enhancer?

Editor’s Comment: Modafinil is sold under the brand name Provigil. It is approved for the treatment of narcolepsy, a sleep disorder that produces excessive daytime sleepiness. Unlike stimulants, modafinil works by elevating hypothalamic histamine levels, rather than stimulating the adrenal glands. To elevate histamine, modafinil activates brain peptides known as orexins. Along with increasing the level of histamine, the activation of orexin neurons also increases dopamine and norepinephrine in the parts of the brain that produce wakefulness. Modafinil is becoming increasingly popular among people with CFS/ME, some of whom report positive results. Go HERE to read some reviews.

“At a dinner party in the winter of 2011, a famous novelist, who's in his mid-50s and whom I'll call Paul, told me he'd used the neuroenhancer modafinil to help him get through a long, gruelling book tour. He also told me it was another novelist, of equal fame, intelligence and reputation, who had given him his first sample of the drug.

Paul and I had met many times before, and he was among the few people who knew that, in 2008, I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. And so, when Paul had finished his bowl of soup, I mentioned Margaret Talbot's New Yorker article about neuroenhancers, and asked what he thought about them.